By Tanya Steele
Lost through time, a local researcher shared the story of a humble forest clearing with secrets to tell at Belgrave Library on Saturday 17 May.
Traced through history, the research was shared in honour of the National Trust’s Australian Heritage Festival celebrations for April and May, which has the theme ‘Unearthed’ for 2025.
Anita Walker, researcher for Sherbrooke Foothills Historical Society, gave the talk on the clearing which was once at the junction of the Welch and Paddy Tracks in Sherbrooke Forest, and was known by locals as ‘Jack the Miner’s’.
“It was very rewarding to share the story,” she said.
The community gathered at the library for the special talk, and Ms Walker said it was a fabulous event and well attended.
“Everybody was thrilled, many had never heard the history before,” she said.
The talk detailed the history of the section of the forest just beyond the Trestle Bridge in the Dandenong Ranges National Park, which Puffing Billy runs along regularly and disclosed some of the mystery behind the spot itself.
The area has been many things, a gold mine, a tramway and a popular gathering place right up until the 1980s.
Anita took attendees through the history and said that back in the 1860s, there was a small gold rush along the Monbulk Creek (which flows through the area), and by around 1911, a timber tramway ran through the area, with bullocks hauling logs to J.T. Mahony’s nearby sawmill on Nation Road.
Following bushfires nearby in 1926, a duo known as the Welch brothers were permitted to set up a sawmill in the clearing, and to cut the timber left from the fires and then in the mid-1930s, during the depression, an ill and impoverished old miner named Arthur Boyd moved into the clearing and began to sink mine shafts.
The miner set up a shack and used a horse there to work a puddling machine, and he also kept pigs. He, like so many other miners, had the traditional Cornish nickname of Jack. His health finally gave up, and he died in 1939, the mine shafts proved dangerous, and so they were filled in.
Anita researches for the Sherbrooke Historical Society, who are a dedicated volunteer group always willing to accept any traces of the Belgrave and surrounding Hill’s history. On the day she read a detailed typewritten account by an unknown author to the audience at the library, a copy of which was recently passed on to her.
The account related the recollections of a young neighbourhood boy, Harry Scott, who befriended poor Jack the miner and tried to help him as much as he could.
Moving forward, the shack remained for several years, but eventually the clearing became a much-loved area for picnics and gatherings right into the 1980s and was known as ‘Jack the Miner’s’.
Now that too has gone, with the forest returning, hiding all that history.
The area now sees native flora and fauna of the forest, and hikers from near and far visiting daily and the spot is a beautiful point to rest along the track.
With over 600 events on offer across the country as part of the 2025 celebrations, the Australian Heritage Festival will continue until the end of May.
